GOAL Responds to Massachusetts Gun Violence Committee Report

GOAL’s Review of the Report from the Committee to Reduce Firearm Violence.
“Strategies for Reducing Gun Violence in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts”

Gun Owners’ Action League – The Official Firearms Association of Massachusetts

Northboro, MA – -(Ammoland.com)- Acknowledgements: Gun Owners’ Action League (GOAL) would like to thank the Speaker of the House for taking a well thought out, deliberate process towards reviewing the gun laws.

The tragic murders that took place in Newtown over a year ago caused great pain throughout our nation.

No person can bear witness to the aftermath of such atrocities without being affected. It is unfortunate that in that state of great emotional pain some politicians chose to act in haste. These acts left some states with very poorly thought out legislation and eventually laws that are now being challenged in court from all sides.

Thankfully, through the leadership of the Massachusetts Speaker of the House a more deliberate path was chosen.

Overview:
In the spring of 2013, House Speaker DeLeo appointed a non-legislative body to review the Massachusetts gun laws to find areas that they could be improved. The body was named the Committee to Reduce Gun Violence (“Committee”). With the announcement of this committee and its mission, the members of GOAL were very hopeful that this independent panel of professionals and academics would conduct a reasoned review of the state’s gun laws. After a decade and a half of living under the most convoluted and confusing gun laws in the country, our members finally had some hope for relief.

Sadly, it is GOAL’s opinion that the Committee let our members, as well as the Speaker down.

It is GOAL’s firm belief that any review of the Massachusetts gun laws must begin by acknowledging that the Commonwealth’s gun laws have been an abject failure. Since the passage of the 1998 gun control laws, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Injury Surveillance Program (ISP) reports that gun crime has drastically increased in the Commonwealth. In the same time period, licensed gun owners have been decreased by over 80%. In the absence of using these facts as a base, the report as a whole is made suspect regardless of whether we agree with parts or not. Unfortunately, the Committee chose to ignore these facts and instead relied on flawed testimony that attempts to paint the Commonwealth’s laws in a positive light.

It is evident throughout the report that the Committee did not have a firm grasp of Massachusetts gun laws. This lack of knowledge is quite common as very few individuals have a workable knowledge of the Massachusetts gun laws.

About:
Gun Owners’ Action League is the official state firearms association in Massachusetts. We are an association of law-abiding citizens who believe in the basic right of firearms ownership for competition, recreation and self-protection. GOAL works hard to defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights against those in Massachusetts who wish to infringe upon the freedoms guaranteed by our forefathers. The programs sponsored and developed by Gun Owners’ Action League are supported by competitors, sportsmen, recreational shooters and law enforcement throughout the state. We were formed in 1974 to protect the right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We are recognized as the state’s premier gun rights association. www.goal.org